BRANDING

Be yourself. If I haven’t heard that statement, I have heard it a thousand times. I’m not talking about the whole be yourself and never change or improve kinda thing that most people like to take comfort in. But I’m rather talking something slightly different. Follow me; let’s take a short trip together.

A number of people in the world today have a brand; basically what they are known for. When you hang around people like that or constantly see them in the news, there is a tendency to want to be like them or even be them. I call that “the temptation to be stupid.” Of course everyone wants to be well known and celebrated, everyone wants to make money, even I want that but my question is are you thinking of creating your own brand or you merely want to be a copy-cat; a cheap and fake version of a distinct original?

Unfortunately, that is the problem with a lot of us young people. We do not want to be creative or hardworking enough to harness our potential, brush up our skills and work at being ourselves and creating our own brands. We want to make it and make it big! We also want to make it NOW, forgetting that success is a journey and not a destination in itself. Soon enough, I’ll do a piece on how young people want to eat our future now and the danger of that. But for today, here’s my point. No one with a prominent brand today “miraculously” created it overnight. It’s a process. Quit trying to be like others and work harder on identifying your potential.

So the rave is for M-I and his “amazing” rap skills and so every young guy wants to be like M-I or even be him. They dress like him and begin concocting silly rhymes and “flows” that make you want to puke. Come to think of it, a lot of that is going on in the music industry today. Everybody wants to sing whether they have a “voice that can bring down heaven” (some close pals of mine will get this. lol) or they have a voice that would make the toads feel at home in their company, they just want to sing. And so we see a lot of young people in the music industry with little or no talent giving us annoying lyrics that make absolutely no sense! I heard a song yesterday that went like this “I’ll buy you a lorry and tell you a story…” Are you kidding?!

Let’s leave music, how about business? You have zero clue how businesses are run, you do not even try to read biographies of prominent businessmen but because a friend of yours seems to be doing well buying and selling clothes, you suddenly think it’s for you. I mean, everyone knows them on campus as the business tycoons and you simply have to be identified as such. I guarantee you, as surely as the sun rises every morning, you will crash and burn within a month of trying to be like them. That’s if you even last a month.

Let’s talk about comedy. There are quite a number boring comedians all over the place these days. You want to be the next Basketmouth or the next SLK and so you begin to think of all sorts of silly things to say in the hope that they would be funny… Izzorai. Hopefully you’ll last a few minutes on stage before the audience boos you off while tossing bottles and cans at you. I’ve been at an event where the “comedian” was actually booed off the staged, no kidding! Some go as far as copying some other comedians jokes. That’s actually just the height! Matter of fact, that’s a clear case of being a copy-cat. You think reproducing Basketmouth’s jokes will make you him? uh… no it won’t! Now this is the reason I love SLK. You might not know him but I guarantee you that in time, you will. He is just a natural! His catch phrase is “100% original” and all his jokes are definitely original!

There’s just so many examples I could give but I like keeping my posts brief and to the point. I believe by now you have already gotten the message. Stop trying to recreate someone else’s brand. It’s not just silly, it’s also annoying. I’m not saying you cannot pursue the same line of business someone else is pursuing but I’m simply saying work hard at finding your potential or skill and building up on it. Improve yourself regularly; do research, study biographies, read books, Do something!

There’s nothing as wonderful as being able to chart your own course in life. Carve a niche for yourself. Create your own brand. I cannot say I want to go into music now because I want to be like Omawumi. I guess the only people that would download my songs or buy my CDs are my family and friends. Or I want to go into comedy because all my comedian friends are making it big time and are so popular. Hmmn… #no comments.

Here’s my brand. I’m a writer; both creative and motivational. I’m also a talker or speaker, whichever way you want to see it. Now slowly but surely, I’m working my way up. I don’t expect to be the next Chimamanda Adichie; matter of fact, I don’t even want to be the next her! (Although of a truth her works are amazing and truly inspire me) I want to just be me! I want people to read my books or my articles and feel like there’s something original, new and refreshing about it. I don’t want them to hear me speak or come across my works and feel like I’m the carbon copy of someone else.

I’ll end on this note. Everyone has a gift, but if you live your entire life trying to be someone else, you would end up a miserable and unfulfilled person. I know you have probably heard this a thousand times over but this is me saying it again. Be yourself and not the cheap copy of some already distinct original.

I know this sorta felt like a lecture and I’m sorry but I just had write this. 😀 I’m actually tired of seeing young people trying to just copy everything around them. Just create your own brand! Well let me know what you think, your comments really encourage me. Thank you for reading. cheers 🙂

20 thoughts on “BRANDING”

Your penmanship is getting better I must say. You are getting more in touch with Passion which is a good thing. Just a touch more on ur delivery and presto!! You’ll hit it.
This article is precise. Not everyone can b Bruno Mars, Robert Downey Jr, or even Donald Trump. each of these people is a unique bundle of characteristics and can not be copied(some will sue you). I recently stumbled upon a guy on youtube whose skill was, guess!… impressions!! And he was good at it!!
It’s all abt uniqueness and study. The lesson here must not be lost.

Thank you so much Nedu. I really appreciate that you read and commented. Well, I am trying to get better at what I do 😉 I hope that everyone can learn from this and always remember it. Indeed not everyone can catch a grenade like Bruno Mars. lol. cheers

Thank you so much for this timely piece. I totally agree with you. You just nailed it, right on point. This ‘copycatism’ is a menace in our society today. People wanna be just like someone else. Dr Myles Munroe (the teacher of the WORD i most respect in the world) nailed it when he said that we are each UNIQUELY designed, the eyes needs the ears to hear what the mouth is saying…just imagine if the whole human body were to be eyes…ooooops d’thought of it alone scares me already, dats d’same nostalgic feelin dat esudes when someone just wants to be like another. Well this piece is in no way displacing the importance of a ‘mentorship/mentee relationship’, that is very vital to every man/human who desires to live a fulfilled life. The point here is ‘Be an original, don’t die a copy of someone else’.

Hmmn. Deep words sis and 100% true. I’m glad you share my sentiments. Indeed one cannot over emphasize the importance of the mentor-mentee relationship but don’t copy someone to a point that people don’t know who you really are. Thank you for reading and commenting. You really are an encouragement. Cheers 🙂

Nice piece, the world needs this, people are messing up everything, it’ s ok 2 copy but in copying be creative and bring smtin dt makes u unique. Copy and be a threat to those you copied from, don’t be an exact photocopy of anyman or anything, you’d loose value because yhud forever be lost in the shadows. Thanx dear. Nice piece

Thank you so much Blessyn. I love how you said copy and be a threat to the original. lol. Quite interesting but makes a lot of sense. Healthy competition is good and so you should work hard to build on what already is in existence. Thank you for reading and commenting. 🙂 cheers

Writer for Africa o! Lorry…… Story….??? some rhyme I must say! lol. smh. Nice piece. I hope that those reading aren’t just reading but taking note of the message. I like what Blessyn said “copy and be a threat to the original” In doing that u are not only a threat but then you are creating a niche for yourself. In building, u need a foundation. you don’t just have the foundation and leave it there. You have got to build on it! After all , somebody started comedy and others joined but then created their own niches thereby making their own names. Point is, make yours! You are who you are, YOURSELF!

lool. Writer for Africa? Hehe. Well, truth is when I heard those “rhymes” that day I was just weak.
I actually hope too, that people reading are taking the message. We can only be ourselves and not anyone else. True, every building needs a foundation. I haven’t seen any foundation that stayed on it’s own without a building on it. Great people in all the industries have laid the foundation. It’s now left to us to build on it and raise the buildings pretty high. Amazing illustration sis! Thank you so much for reading and commenting. I appreciate your support and encouragement. Cheers 🙂